Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/19/2022 12:26 PM |
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Final GT of the season....it will be a two-horse race after the opening TT, IMO. Ineos and JV are gonna create enough gaps to all but eliminate everyone else.
QS may stay clsoe enough to keep Evenepoel in the mix for a bit. Bold prediciton - Alaphillipe goes for the GC. There is only 1 HC climb in the race this year, so it suits his capabilities. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/19/2022 12:33 PM |
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Interesting prediction but IMO JA comes into this a bit short on training and form for that to happen. I do think it is perfect prep to get ready for Worlds.
Curious whether Remco can stay competitive the entire three weeks. He is a much matured rider compared to a year ago and is ready for the challenge, both mentally and physically. Other than that perhaps Roglic versus Carapaz as the established quantities, let's see if Hindley can reload following Giro win or if he's a one trick poney, and fingers crossed for Ayoyo as the lone Spanish hope. Movistar come into with buckled knees at risk of relegation and with their GC leader having a mental block descending.
Per Sporza: the Vuelta starts with a TTT, an almost forgotten cult discipline. Yes, they described it as a cult discipline. And in the town where I spent many years as a student (Utrecht). |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/19/2022 01:03 PM |
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Sot of ROglic warming up on his road bike wearing his TT helmet on the trainer....but with a cooling vest.
LOL...PICK ONE! |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/19/2022 01:04 PM |
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| TTT doesn't look like it will open huge gaps. Ineos have only 5 seconds on Bora at halfway mark. QS are doing slightly better (3 seconds). JV are 14 sec faster than QS. Roglic has indicated he'd like Gesink (who's never worn a leader's jersey) in red; that's who Roglic is. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/19/2022 01:25 PM |
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| Ha, and they made it happen. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/19/2022 01:40 PM |
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Very cool....chuffed for Gesink. Gets to wear a leader's jersey in his home country.
While the gaps were smaller than I thought they might be overall, I thought Ineos and QS would be closer to JV and further away form the rest of the field. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/19/2022 02:18 PM |
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And here I was, thinking the Vuelta started next week and enduring the long siesta between the TdF Femme finish and the final week or August. I should have known. Finishing week is the week of Cycle Oregon. When I am out of touch with the rest of the world.
Is there a final TT or is the last Sunday the processional march? Saturday will be the final 50? 70? miles back to our start/finish, wrapping up with friends I didn't see for three years and the drive back to Portland. Maybe someone there will know what's happening in Spain and maybe I meet that person but those are long shots.
All three of the GT's organizers need to do a better job of looking at Ben's schedule and planning accordingly. Oh well. I guess I can dream. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/19/2022 02:20 PM |
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OC, JV solved their lack of time training by simply spending less time out on the course.  |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/19/2022 04:18 PM |
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Posted By Cosmic Kid on 08/19/2022 01:40 PM
Very cool....chuffed for Gesink. Gets to wear a leader's jersey in his home country.
Beyond that this offsets the first ever TdF non-selection which was a tough moment for him. He took some personal time after that. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/19/2022 08:23 PM |
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Great crowds today. Starting a GT out of country in a cycling mad country really turns out the fans. Nice to see Gesink in red, well deserved including in an overall career sort of way.
Curiosity questions about Sepp Kuss: how much work did he do today? I ask because 1. he's not a flat road full gas speed merchant, and if he was in the mix, he must be really fit; 2. if he is a plan B for JV if Roglic isn't there, was he protected? |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/21/2022 07:18 PM |
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| alejandro when asked about the opening stages erupted in an uncharacteristic string of cursing. Riding (driving) Dutch roads is an art, things are so much more serene pretty much everywhere else 😂. |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 08/23/2022 09:41 AM |
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| Gosh, I love Bob Roll.
What a professional! |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/25/2022 10:15 AM |
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| Roglic is not going to win a 4th Vuelta. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/25/2022 12:26 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 08/25/2022 10:15 AM
Roglic is not going to win a 4th Vuelta.
I'm not going there just yet, but he definitely took a big hit vs. Remco today. BUt to the other GC favorites, he is still right there.
Still lots of question marks re: Remco and a GT, so we'll see...I'm just glad that we have a race for now. It was looking like a JV procession until today. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/25/2022 12:28 PM |
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| Glad to see Sivakov have a good ride...and both he and Tao are ahead of Carapaz. Wonder how EF feels about their big signing right now. *shrug* |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/25/2022 01:31 PM |
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Re: Roglic, I am going there because with his injury recovery he came into Vuelta short on training. This will make it difficult to recover. Also curious that JV support for Roglic was totally absent when it mattered.
Ineos overall is looking weaker than expected. Conversely Mas is doing well given the mental troubles he was showing in Tour. Ayuso was looking good but still very young. Carapaz may not be going well now but he's still a consistent performer, smart racer, and a good signing.
Agreed on Remco and Patrick sounded a bit leery about already having to defend red and would rather loose it again tomorrow. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/27/2022 11:20 AM |
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So Remco had a change of heart! That red jersey feels nice! To his credit, he rode smart today. Picked up a couple of seconds without doing anything stupid. (This after a Tour where how not to ride smart was displayed.)
And to the other teams - you let Q-S run the show and do so without a whole lot of effort. Granted, there is a long ways to go. Remco is young and hasn't pulled off a GT yet. Q-S is not known as a GC team. But - Remco is strong. He likes and expects to win. Q-S is a strong, disciplined team. Play into their hands and they might find that changing their focus a little is good and even a bit fun. That could turn out to be as problem. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/27/2022 11:51 AM |
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| Move over Sep Kuss, make way for Jay Vine. That pedal stroke looks so easy. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/28/2022 11:43 AM |
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| Remco again. Now the big question. Can he survive tomorrow? |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/28/2022 12:17 PM |
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Rest days are always tough to survive.
Behind Evenepoel it’s Mas, Ayuso and Rodriguez showing that there’s hope for Spanish cycling beyond Valverde. If Mas is able to hold that might secure Movistar is WordTour as well. Rodriguez is now Ineos best rider. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/28/2022 05:59 PM |
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| Youngest interim top 5 of a grand tour ever? Despite Roglic and Mas providing (significant) upward skew. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/30/2022 10:45 AM |
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| I guess that sock helmet works. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/30/2022 11:36 AM |
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| Was it the sock? I thought it was the skinsuit. Red is fast. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/30/2022 03:44 PM |
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| I'd picture the head sock to be itchy and scratchy particular in heat so one would want to remove it ASAP making for a dominant time trial performance. The red really only works if you have an Osborne sherry bull chasing you. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/31/2022 12:30 PM |
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The Vuelta needed to require the whole peloton to wear those itchy head socks today. 15 minutes behind the slowest expected time. Rolling rest day (for all but Alaphilippe; tough break for him. I'm guessing collarbone. Probably no special attention, just rest, some pain, awkward sleeping and a few weeks of watching the world go by and not being able to participate. Too bad. His form was looking pretty darn good. Won't be defending his WC jersey even if he is there.)
The flip side to today's boring race - two back to back summit finishes, rest day, TT. Day five, they just showed up for work and slogged through the day. Was that entirely unexpected? |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/31/2022 01:07 PM |
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The curse of rainbow jersey has returned with a vengeance after having been dormant for a few years.
Meanwhile riders dropping like flies with Covid positives. Same protocols as in Tour (both ASO run). Let's see who makes it to Madrid. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/31/2022 04:08 PM |
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| We get to watch the geometric progression unfold once more. Evenepoel commented to the press that he feels unsafe out there, that the crowds are way too big and close. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/01/2022 03:48 PM |
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| As we were approaching final 10k today there was a comment on Sporza about how often Kelderman had finished top 10 in GT stages without ever winning (believe I heard > 100 times). Another miss. Carapaz has a much better nose for winning and saves his Vuelta somewhat. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 09/01/2022 03:59 PM |
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Carapaz has a much better nose for winning and saves his Vuelta somewhat.
GCN kept talking up Vine as if his next stage win was ordained today....I'm sitting there thinking "Uhhh....you guys know Carapaz is in that group, too, right?" 😜
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/03/2022 10:36 PM |
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We have a race!
PR might not have won the Vuelta without VWA last year. If he wins without his help, respect. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/04/2022 10:48 AM |
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Beauty stage today with lots of action on all fronts.
Roglic is starting to look better but don’t think there’s enough runway left for him to win overall. Evenepoel continues to look good. His main weakness is team. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 09/04/2022 01:53 PM |
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I looked at the remaining elevation profiles. Roglic can keep nibbling away at that what? 1:40 left. Tomorrow's rest could be big. Evenepoel needs to stay with Roglic each of the Stages Wed thru Sat until close enough to the finish that the time difference will be small (like today). Roglic needs to leave him earlier.
As longslow said, we have a horse race. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 09/06/2022 10:24 AM |
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I see the cycling union has finally achieved a real milestone, one that the US labor movement achieved over a century ago; the 2 day weekend. They did have to settle for a compromise. It's Monday-Tuesday, not Saturday-Sunday (their job is to entertain the Sat-Sun crowd) and Tuesday includes a required long easy bike ride, but it's a start which might pave the way to real riders' pensions, minimum wages, especially for the Continental ranks and everything for the women.
Now, can they hang on to this or are they going to slip up and allow killer Tuesdays in future grand tours. I don't have very high hopes. Two day weekends in siesta prone Spain are a lot more likely than in the more industry prone countries of Italy and France and along the North Sea where many of the 8-10 day stage races happen and the union hasn't even managed to sneak in even a one day weekend. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/06/2022 10:47 AM |
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| Spoke to soon Ben. Excitement. I happened to walk into office with 5k to go and figured what the heck, why not watch a sprint finish. Surprise surprise. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 09/06/2022 11:05 AM |
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I did. Should have known that powerless union wouldn't even get this right.
What a tough way to claw back 8 seconds. And Evenepoel - found a neat way to get that magic ST (same time) and remove himself from all the chaos. Evenepoel has already lost a great deal more than those 8 seconds to his crash and not being able to properly climb standing on Saturday's finish. Is Roglic going to pay for this one tomorrow?
This does surprise me. Not a very Roglic-like move. Gotta give him credit for "bustin' out" but do keep the rubber down. (Unusual for a GT's both leader and next to crash on their own, not from being taken out by other riders. Froome did it a few times but his adversaries were pretty good about staying upright.) |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/06/2022 11:17 AM |
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| Au contraire, this was very much Roglic style both including the attack and the hard crash. And yes I am sure he will feel this coming days. He looks battered. He does gain 8 seconds but that’s a lot less than he was probably hoping for. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 09/06/2022 05:48 PM |
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Yeah, Rog looked pretty beat up...that was a lot of blood on his body and some specuilation that he may have a concussion.
100% agreed that it was all "on brand" for rog!! |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 09/07/2022 05:20 AM |
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| And Roglic is now out….damn. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/07/2022 11:48 AM |
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| Mas moving up to 2nd is huge for Movistar in relegation battle. Lotto and IPT still below the relegation bar. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 09/08/2022 09:08 AM |
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| Jay Vine crashed out today...maillot pois to change hands today. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/08/2022 09:33 AM |
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| Carapaz had said he wanted polka and looks to be in hunt. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/08/2022 09:36 PM |
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| Still searching: what caused PR to go down? Touched wheels? |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/09/2022 07:34 AM |
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| Wow Tour of Britain stopped. With the full support of Moviestar no doubt.
Serious mourners in the UK. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/09/2022 09:57 AM |
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| Roglic is now putting blame squarely on Wright who came from behind and knocked handlebars out of his hands . |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/12/2022 12:18 PM |
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In the end a bit of a walk in the park for Evenepoel. As noted on page 1, he's a much matured rider both mentally (largely due to Lombardia crash providing much needed perspective) and physically (he's duly focused on removing all the weaknesses that were noted). Still wait and see how he fares against likes of Pog but it should be interesting.
Two Spanish riders on podium. Plus Rodriguez would likely have fared better if it wasn't for that crash. There's hope beyond Valverde's retirement. |
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